The project is supported by 50 percent match funding through The Crown Estate’s Supply Chain Accelerator and will build on EMEC’s earlier concept design for a national floating offshore wind test site.
As UK offshore wind projects scale into deeper waters, developers require a representative environment to prove, refine and de‑risk technologies before full commercial deployment. However existing test sites across Europe lack the necessary metocean conditions for the offshore wind projects in the UK’s pipeline.
To address this gap, EMEC has identified a site 20 kilometres west of Orkney with ideal water-depths, seabed conditions and wind speeds.
The £500,000 project will complete feasibility, design scoping and industry engagement to confirm site infrastructure requirements, considering logistical and operational needs to ensure connectivity to ports and alignment with the UK offshore wind ecosystem. EMEC will also progress environmental scoping and early-stage survey work at the prospective site including bathymetry, sub‑bottom profiling and ornithological/marine mammal monitoring.
By providing a pathway for deepwater and floating wind innovation, the DeepWind test site will help attract investment and strengthen the UK’s position as a global leader in offshore wind innovation.
“The Crown Estate’s Accelerator funding enables us to move decisively from concept to delivery planning for our deepwater wind test site” said Mark Hamilton, Operations & Technology Director. “During the project, we aim to progress leasing and grid-connection applications and we will initiate some of the longest-lead environmental studies, moving us towards full consenting and Front-End Engineering Design. The key outcome will be a robust investment case for phased development of the test site. We will be running a series of engagement exercises over the coming months to gather insight from developers, OEMs, insurers, investors, regulators and community groups and I encourage interested parties to get in touch with us for more detail on how they can help shape the future of UK offshore wind testing.”
EMEC has been examining options for a national deepwater wind test site since early 2020. The chosen site, west of Orkney, has water depths between 85-100 metres, large waves and a mean windspeed of 10.7 m/s, offering floating and other deepwater wind developers representative metocean conditions to those in ScotWind and INTOG sites. This will enable developers to de-risk technologies, putting turbines, floating structures, moorings and other components to the test in an energetic offshore environment, in turn enabling performance to be refined on a wide range of technologies prior to commercial scale-up and build-out.
The plan is to develop the test site in two phases, each providing space for four berths capable of hosting wind turbines up to a maximum of 20-25 MW rated power (350 m tip height). The first phase will have a grid connection capacity of 60 MW. The second phase would be developed as and when the demand for it has been demonstrated with phase 1.
Building on 20 years of experience operating offshore test sites, helping to reduce the time, cost and risk of demonstrating technologies in the sea, EMEC will provide site management, technical and supply chain link-up support to allow developers to focus intently on developing and demonstrating their technologies.
For additional information:
